Downfall
by Aub
Summary: Songfic based on the Matchbox Twenty title. A year after Naraku is dead and Kagome has gone back home Inuyasha starts to wonder if it was the right decision. Sorry, kind of long for a songfic. Rating is mainly for protection. Only sappiness here. Hop


OK. First off I want to thank all the people who reviewed my last (and first) attempt at posting a fanfic. It was very encouraging. I sweated for a day waiting to see what the response would be and amazingly, people liked it. Now I thought I would try a songfic, just because this song is one that I think fits well with the Inuyasha/Kagome relationship. I love this song on it's own and if you haven't had a chance you should really check out this whole album. It's More Than You Think You Are by Matchbox Twenty. It's the best album I've heard in a long time.   
  
Anyway, on to the story. And I hope the response is as nice! ")  
  
Note: No, I don't own Inuyasha. Thanks for the depressing reminder.  
  
The song lyrics also belong to someone else and will begin and end with an asterix.  
  
I tried to distinguish it more but I couldn't get it to load onto the site correctly so this is the best I could do.  
  
Let Me Be Your Downfall  
  
Inuyasha sighed and tried again to get more comfortable in his perch at the top of the God Tree.  
  
Finally he let out a growl and gave up on trying to sleep.  
  
"What is wrong with me!?" he yelled at himself. He glared up at the star speckled sky. Ever since Kagome went home he tossed and turned his way through the nights. It had been almost a year since the defeat of Naraku and Kagome's departure. Kikyo was safe, properly put to rest at the shrine in Kaede's village. Miroku and Sango were in the newly rebuilt exterminator's village and Shippo, though still sniffling over the loss of his "adopted mother", was very happy with them. And Inuyasha…..he had everything he could want. Though he had chosen to remain a hanyo, his fame over defeating Naraku had made him both respected and feared. He had the freedom to do what he pleased and traveled as he wanted. He no longer had to worry about the lives of those he had come to care for. He even had a small portion of his own lands to lord over. So why was it he was constantly frustrated? He always seemed to be wandering, searching for something. And he was continually finding himself in this same damn spot. The God Tree. Overlooking the Bone-eater's well. Where he always used to wait.  
  
For her.   
  
He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. In the end he knew what was wrong with him. He had let her go, thinking she would be happiest back at home. Back with her family and friends. He knew there was nothing for her here. They had all said their goodbyes and he had watched her turn to the well. But at the last second, just before her head had sunk below the lip of the well, she had looked back. And she had looked directly at him. And it was that look which to this day haunted him.   
  
It made no sense. He knew the future was where Kagome belonged. He knew she missed her own time. Yet in that look he could have sworn he saw something very far from joy. Pain seemed to pour from her eyes, and he thought they were calling to him. Asking for him to stop her. To make her stay. But he had just stood there and let her fall back to everything that was not him.  
  
So here he was, a year later and still agonizing over that one last look. What had she truly wanted?  
  
*I wonder how you sleep  
  
I wonder what you think of me  
  
If I could go back  
  
Would you have ever been with me?*  
  
If he could only see her one last time that look is what he would ask her about. Maybe then he'd get some sleep. Just one question………..he looked over at the well.  
  
"Why not?" he thought, "I could be there in a few minutes." He had been tempted before. But he hesitated. Fear clouded his thoughts, just like it always did when he thought of going to her. How would he find her? What if she didn't want to see him? What if she had gotten married? What if she had forgotten him?  
  
*I want you to be unused  
  
I want you to remember  
  
I want you to believe in me  
  
I want you on my side*  
  
He suddenly sat up straight. He had fought every terror imagined and been victorious. Why was this one small woman able to fill him with such fear? But deep down he knew why and for once he let it flit through his mind.  
  
*Come on and lay it down  
  
I've always been with you  
  
Here and now  
  
Give all that's within you*  
  
Suddenly he was on the ground and his feet were flying over the damp grass. All the feelings coursing through him - fear, desperation, emptiness - only one thing could cure them. Only one person.  
  
*Be my savior  
  
And I'll be your downfall*  
  
His stomach flipped in reaction to the well's portal. Light flashed over him and then, before he was ready, his feet were on solid ground again.  
  
*Here we go again  
  
Ashamed of being broken in  
  
We're getting off track  
  
I wanna get you back again*  
  
He leapt easily to the top of the well. The smell hit him first and he almost fell backwards from the strength of it. All the smells he remembered from this world were there, but along with them was the sweetest air he had ever taken in. Suddenly, Kagome flooded him. Her laughter, her anger, her compassion, even her yelling.  
  
*I want you to trouble me  
  
I wanted you to linger  
  
Yeah I want you to agree with me  
  
I want so much, so bad*  
  
Need pulled him to her house. A need he couldn't quite explain, but that had suddenly grown until he was almost choking on it.  
  
*Come on and lay it down  
  
I've always been with you  
  
Here and now  
  
Give all that's within you*  
  
He reached the tree that grew besides her bedroom window and looked up. He felt like his heartbeat would wake the entire house, but though he saw a light on above there was no movement. Without another thought he crouched low and leapt straight up.  
  
*Be my savior  
  
And I'll be your downfall*  
  
He reached the branch he knew would lead him to her window. He peered through the glass, terrified of what he would find inside. At first he thought his fears had been right. He didn't see the pink bed spread and curtains that used to color the room. In fact almost everything was different. No londer did the room look like that of a young girl. But a few things caught his eye and gave him hope. The flowers on the dresser. Some pictures on the nightstand. One lone pink cushion still covering the chair at the desk. Then his ears caught the sound of a door opening and his eyes were drawn to the bathroom entrance. Suddenly he couldn't breathe as he plastered his hands and face to the glass.  
  
*Be my savior  
  
Only love can save us now  
  
Oh lay me down  
  
Only love can save us now*  
  
The door opened and in stepped Inuyasha's salvation. The only thing that could finally bring peace and happiness to a life that had known nothing but loneliness and conflict. Kagome.   
  
She was dressed in a simple white nightgown. Her hair tumbled down her back. Her face was fresh and clean of any make-up. God's, he'd almost forgotten the way she glowed. And somehow she was even more breathtaking than before. He suddenly felt like a man starving and reached down to open the window.  
  
*Be my savior  
  
Only love can save us now  
  
Oh love, save me now*  
  
Kagome had stepped to the front of her dresser and was looking at a picture. The one thing she had brought back with her as a momento. Everyone was in it. Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kaede. Even Kirara and Myoga were there. Then her eyes moved to the side. Standing just a few feet from the group was the face that drew her to this picture most often. She reached her hand out to touch the glass covering it then stopped as a noise behind her broke the silence of her memories. She turned around and gasped. Standing in front of her, almost as if her own mind had conjured him up, was the one person who kept her sealed to the past. Inuyasha stared back at her.  
  
*Lay it down  
  
I've always been with you  
  
Hear me now  
  
With all that's within you*  
  
Seeing her there before him almost drove him to his knees. But seeing him suddenly brought her back to life. Neither could speak. Then Inuyasha slowly brought his arms up and held them out.  
  
To her.  
  
*Be my savior   
  
And I'll be your downfall*  
  
Kagome didn't hesitate. She was enveloped in his arms and lifted straight off the ground. He pulled away from her just enough to press his lips to hers. She melted against him and he realized he had finally found it. All the wandering and the searching, the sleepless nights when he couldn't understand why his mind never sat still. He knew now what had been lost. It was his heart. And now it was back in his arms where it had always belonged.  
  
He slid his arm beneath her knees and leapt out the window. She clung to him and with her eyes told him her search was also finally over. He squeezed her even tighter against him. They would never let go again.  
  
*Now I'm back on my own  
  
Hear my feet, well they're made of stone  
  
Now I'll make you go where I go  
  
Well hell you, can I take you home  
  
Well I'm coming home on my back  
  
Kissing me, your lips painted black  
  
Saying oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
  
Let me be your downfall  
  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
  
Let me be your downfall*  
  
The End  
  
___________________________________________________________________________  
  
I know, I know. Somehow this thing came out waaaay longer than a songfic should. It's also completely sappy and very out of character. But this song seems to say so much. There are times when Rob Thomas is singing that he sounds positively desperate. I felt like it would be short-changing the song to make it shallow. I think that's why I set it a little farther into the future. I was hoping that time would make Inuyasha mature enough to feel this way. Well, almost anyways. I really hope you guys like this. I'm not sure if I'll have the guts to do another songfic though. It really wrings the emotion out of ya! Either way, everything is worth a try. Thanks for checking it out! - Aubrey 


End file.
